overnight the bombardment continues from the air israeli air strikes killed three militants belonging to the same militant group in gaza as athame jobbery the head of hamas his military wing who was killed in a targeted airstrike yesterday afternoon there's also reports confirmed by the israeli military of continued shelling via the israeli navy gunboats off the coast and fixed up land based artillery pieces from the southern israel from hamas

rockets were fired into southern israel israeli anti missile defense is trying to shoot those down some of them land landing in southern israel as well this immediate escalation came about yesterday afternoon loud explosions rocking the only the built up areas there about ten people reported killed including civilians the great fear now that a ground invasion is imminent israeli sources have said that they're fully prepared to start again of asian if they deem it necessary and they have called up reservists possibly the last time that we've seen any operation of this intensity was over the new year of two thousand and eight to nine when israel launched operation cast lead pretty much following the same pattern as we've seen so far with the ground operation following the same stated objectives as israel says now to destroy the terrorist infrastructure on the ground in gaza meeting heavy fighting there was a lot of civilian casualties and damage as

a result. right after the assault started we spoke to harry fear a documentary filmmaker activist working in gaza he said palestinians are terrified and expecting things to get worse. we've seen absolutely over and hospital system health system here in gaza an emergency crisis status was launched by that within an hour of the operation and being launched as you said we've seen at least three dead children at least one woman we've seen at least ninety injured in just one hospital we've seen victims many people giving anecdotal reports of white phosphorous maybe being used again here on the gaza strip we've seen naval attacks attacks i have to be honest with you the situation is very very grave and the palestinian gazan population are frankly being terrorized internationals in the

gaza strip recalled to an activist and the gazan people believe that this is the beginning of another full scale war akin to that of winter two thousand and eight winter two thousand and nine named operation cast lead so i have to tell you the situation is expected to get greater and greater. when the violence in the region is now spiraling with us having responded to the israeli assault with rocket fire killing three people paul spokesperson for the israeli foreign ministry has hailed the perception of the israeli operation despite a number of civilian deaths including those of children this is been so far one of the most surgical pinpoint military operations in modern military history i think again you will see that the civilian militant casualty ratio will show up in israel to have unfortunately killed civilians but far fewer then than any other comparable move the troops are sort of tension when you have a pinpoint operation you call this one of the most precise and exact pinpoint

military operations that israel's unknown in recent history. and that can allow for what you might consider collateral damage the killing of children when you when you presented and you talk about civilians it's always said as all the civilian these ready civilians who being killed just today the three israelis who were killed but all of the live and palestinians who were killed seven are confirmed militants two to use the likelihood now you are you worried possibly you're just giving rise to anti israeli attitudes among palestinians let's let's have a listen to this quickly as the hamas leader that we spoke to just a bit earlier please stand by. the assassination of this great leader. clearly confirms that we are still in the heart of resistance with the israeli enemy the zionist enemy knows nothing but the language of killing and blood our battle with the enemy is an open bottle god willing this battle will end with palestine and jerusalem liberated you should wait for action not words. we've seen their actions a situation which most often anywhere in the world could accept what would you do

were just one missile to land in central moscow where we talk about our missiles and let's this car fire here we're talking about mortar rockets that are being attracted over some might say that a mortar or rocket from the palestinian militants compared to your. health fire inside why the missiles from your super high tech fighter jets and well that's quite a big difference between fireworks and bombs but the truth of the matter is that we have a situation where just today three israeli civilians were killed call them mortars call them missiles those or dead civilians we have a situation where in the recent past some thirty percent of these re the children in southern israel diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and israel was heavily criticized by a part of the world community i agree with you there i remind you and i point out that that was four years ago is the lowest civilian to militant casualty rates in history twenty nine percent of those killed were civilians and i'm not belittling

the death of any civilians but far lower than any other military campaign. in the last century i think that we will see something similar to start we're hoping to achieve a number of things first and foremost significantly degrade the command and control operational abilities of. well the latest we have is the u.n. security council now holding an urgent closed door meeting after palestinians called for an end to israel's offensive artie's guy nature can report from washington the u.s. of course supporting israel despite the escalating violence. the u.s. response to the shelling of gaza was easy to predict and it says we stand by our partners in their right to defend themselves against terrorism the u.s. representative to the u.n. has released a statement saying the u.s. expresses regret at the death and injury of innocent israeli and palestinian civilians caused by the violence there but made it clear that washington is clearly blaming the palestinians for the israelis shelling of gaza palestinians are asking

the security council to stop israel and what they call quote war crimes perpetrated by israel against the palestinian people israel of course is saying that the air strikes are justified response to go rocket fire from gaza into south is for all it's worth noting that this wednesday while israel was storming gaza from air president obama was holding a news conference the president received no question about gaza and that was almost nothing on t.v. hear about it i've been watching very closely the israeli defense minister who has indicated that this could be just the beginning mr brock who broke the last this really ground attack on gaza four years ago this three week operation cast lead in which more than one thousand and one hundred palestinians and israelis were killed in the u.s. it's basically told us well whatever you do to the palestinians in gaza we're not going to polls we're not going to intervene and the usual line is the one that we

heard this wednesday and that is we stand by always really partners in the right to defend themselves against terrorism but does the word terrorism in this context justify any actions by israel because it very much seems like it from the u.s. point of view and that is what many people don't understand but it's also interesting how washington chooses which acts of terror to condemn this terrorism and which ones not to condemn for example suicide bombings that happen in syria on a regular basis the u.s. does not hurry to condemn. then most acts of terror so the word terrorism may have been different interpretations in washington often an act of terror may not be condemned as such if it's committed against someone designated by the you was an enemy. to get live updates on the situation ongoing just log on to our website odds for you dot com will be closely following the story on air as well.

certainly feeling the aftershocks of the austerity protests as demonstrators of more than twenty countries join forces coming up here on our team we'll take a look at how the twenty four hour strike over spending cuts and skyrocketing unemployment in europe and it's ok. plus the queen of mean why the british want to search for a cleaner has led to a messy debate and anger about those campaigning for higher wages and also that her children. this is day starts at five am in the winter tending to his flock of story hundred sheep in the mountains in pain. thirty five years old it was a life he hadn't studied accounting but you just unfamiliar dictated that he would

take on the can of these animals after his father. he's just made camp at their winter farm stage setting up his ute the traditional two fenian round tent made of diskin. back amongst his family as his job is a lonely one and tough going out in a way there's braving streams of plus to minus forty degrees celsius it's just that i've used them there are certain difficulties there's not enough time for everything i'm almost alone and my sister works with my mother my mother is seventy five she's very old and i miss mountains when i'm in town and i spend a lot of time here. so most of us simply carrying out the work that his father did and his father before him nothing has changed over many many centuries and that's half the problem it's hard work and many people don't want to come into the industry now and that's where they fit their could die out altogether. it's

difficult to manage everything alone i used to have people who helped me but they were no good they didn't take care of the sheep with all their hearts they hurt the cattle. with people leaving them coming to the countryside the region's government is having to act making the life of the herd and more attractive than promising largest. and livestock and organizing cooperatives for the sale of day put out to ensure the hoda gets a high a fair price i sympathize with those youngsters leaving for an easier more profitable life day in their publics capital because ill but he no longer wishes to join them he enjoys his pastoral way of life now looking for a helper who shares his enthusiasm but more time on his hands he says matter of fact we can start to look for a new wife. mission

. credit take three. four charges three. three. three. three. three boxes video for your media projects free media oh god r.t. dot com. browsers. i miss it and. take care of my daddy. a lot of. bands and. rancid business.

if you're just joining us welcome to the program this is arts he with me rover sue shine the european union is reeling from the twenty four hour strike that saw millions of workers across the debt ridden block take to the streets and the day of action against austerity you saw massive shutdowns travel chaos sunday heavy handed a police response to the protesters some of the most disturbing scenes occurred in spain's two main cities frustration with a deepening recession spilled into violence thank you barcelona riot police fired rubber bullets and clashed with demonstrators over one hundred were arrested at least seventy five injured throughout the country that was at the forefront of the strike party sarah for three ports from the spanish capital. staying i. agree. italy. and portugal.

debt rating countries joining together with many others for the continent's first cross border mega strike from the beginning it was clear that emotions were running high in many places the dreadful violence early on announced a brief calm the storm broke the anger of those protesting is evident for various things put up between the protesters and the riot police is partly right on the scene the military it's not like you can really get more symbolic candy for the he stood by the people say there are right now all across the yard to train their governments and between the people themselves this is why the austerity battle has looked like where the bullets and violent confrontations with the authorities are becoming you know t. familiar sights yet the constant leaders stand firm the disparity is a necessary evil to cut the sky high deficit only event of the fourteenth the people of europe seem to have formed a county union to fight back against the prevailing title stay. ahead of next

week's budget meeting brussels will have been watching closely as the scenes that police and protesters battling one another played out across the nobel peace prize winning. imageries the clean up operation is already under way only say easy for the year is saying to clean up the mess it finds itself in. a major it all in all the way via deepening spending cuts and soaring unemployment have swept through more than twenty european countries in portugal where the government plans to further intensify austerity measures next year protesters law ropes and bottles at riot police guarding the parliament in lisbon and italy so demonstrations turning violent as well as tens of thousands of students and workers clashed with police it was our countries like france and belgium who have been less affected by the financial crisis but they also sold shoes marchers carlos

sociologist at university in barcelona took part in wednesday's strike he explained what's driving people to demonstrate it. protest isn't about a solution a protest is normally about something you don't want so in this case what they're protesting is easy to austerity is cuts in social spending and cuts in social rights and the expansion of social misery people can make the argument that austerity is a solution to the current problems being faced by your european citizenry and in particular by the southern european citizenry the problem is what is that austerity me is it neoliberal e.u. austerity where you cut basically all of those all of the social protection that keeps people from descending down to a sort of downward spiral of social misery and with all of that escalating conflict or do you leave social protection in place and cut in places where there really is overspending such as bailouts in and and areas like these. we've got

a much more insight into europe's growing frustration with austerity as well as economists forecasts are all on our website also there the best pictures and videos from the mega strike has had to want to talk to explore. i will get to the world update shortly on r.t. for now though china's vice president xi jinping has taken over as the communist party leader and will become the next president in march the announcement came as the government undergoes its once in a decade political transformation but the central committee meeting now to elect new leaders a financial expert francis loon who is based in hong kong believes that with china's economic and military rise it's ultimately america that will suffer. the new leadership showed china very you'd sub billet t. and continuities above everything else so. what this means that they will continue

to grow economically i mean what china really do is to continue to strings when it's mid-term beeswing to reach a point that china can can achieve parity with america if that is the case then i don't think america can for its way around the world with out opponents like what it is now u.k. you can do anything it wants but if china becomes. images of real power on the parity was at the us dead since new change. and with the election over in the united states not all americans are in a patriotic mood for tomorrow with more and more people in states around the country. cumulating thousands of electronic signatures demanding they go it alone.

he's already of and now he's a comic book hero. released in the u.s. telling the life story of a self-made russian. let's get an update now on some of the global news for you starting with syria rebels say they've taken control of a key military checkpoint near the country's northeastern border with. at least eighteen government troops and three opposition fighters died in the battle near the town of. the town which the rebels seized on friday meanwhile senior officials are due to discuss the growing violence including the option fly zone comes as france became the first western power to officially recognize the opposite. series of bomb attacks have swept through iraq claiming the lives of twenty six and injuring more than one hundred of the deadliest cook where three car bombs killed nine and injured dozens another. boy in baghdad while

a police station and patrols were attacked in mosul the spate of deadly assault happened on the eve of the islamic new year. now britain's royal family is accustomed to a lavish lifestyle so you might pay the people that look after them with a reasonable wage but no eyeopening recent suggests otherwise turns out you might be better off working for burger king rather than the english queen lower smith has more on a case of pallas penny pinching. so this is pretty unfortunate timing for the queen to be advertising this job it's living wage week in the u.k. which is a campaign by opposition politicians and also by campaign groups to get people paid what they're calling a living wage they've calculated it to include what's necessary for housing and food and other basic necessities to live a basic kind of life they're saying that amount is seven pounds forty five outside

the capital the minimum wage is nineteen and the job which is for a part time cleaner in windsor castle is paying just six pounds sixty seven per hour now it's not illegal this but it's also not generous spirits people outside buckingham palace and opinions are really kind of divided about this because of course we want the queen to be generous and we expect actually we expect people like the queen to set an example particularly to employers but we also want her to be frugal because all of this stuff all of this money that she's paying out is coming from taxpayers ultimately but do we want her to be frugal at the expense of low paid staff like cleaners i think the authors probably know but i think she's in trying to do that she can do it but obviously you get what you pay for very large but they. never come. because they should question whatever policy should be as far as general salaries are concerned we've got some figures to show you we're talking about salaries since two thousand and six they've risen by about eleven

percent across the board which doesn't sound too bad none of this sounds too bad so some example social workers they've got seventeen percent more in their wage packet teaches eleven percent chartered accountants have done less well it just one percent and management consultants are down by around six percent but the most important thing to remember is that none of these things represent real terms rise in wages in order to beat inflation in your wage part you'd have had to have seen it go up by nineteen percent so this is a job that does not pay well. what is our laura smith reporting there from london after a short break here on r.t. it'll be our breaking the set with i've been watching. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something

else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. resistance is not politics but a culture. is couldn't get. on its own.

cultures of resistance on our team. good laboratory was able to build a most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach creation why it should care about humans and world this is why you should care only on the dot com.

loaf.

here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a donor night concludes the longest and while this campaign in our history colors if you let all of that change magically before that some additional effects a time with twists and turns in the gold market should this be something you want. to do because you never seen anything like this until. the guys i'm abby martin and this is breaking the set this morning i learned that the israeli army has launched a major military operation against gaza pillar of defense israeli aircraft struck dozens of targets throughout the gaza strip killing top hamas military leader and

as we know this afternoon seven were dead two of which were children egypt's muslim brotherhood has condemned israel's aggressive response to hamas rockets threatening to pull the egyptian ambassador from israel the muslim brotherhood's political wing via j.-p. said in a statement that israel's return to the policy of assignation of leaders of the palestinian struggle groups shows that the israeli occupation wants to drag the region toward instability the statement added that the occupying state has to understand that the changes the arab region especially egypt have witnessed will not permit the palestinian people be put under the hold of the israeli offensive in the same way as in the past what's perhaps most troubling is the deafening silence from the old. obama administration just today obama gave his first press conference since being reelected where he touched upon a whole range of global issues and unsurprisingly there was no mention of the declaration of war against america's closest ally in the middle east unsurprising because it goes without saying that israel respond with a full military force and they'll come out just fine look i is it's clear that

neither side is totally innocent here but there is one thing i want you to consider the gaza strip exists under complete controlled occupation by israel the region is an open air prison where daily life is a constant struggle for dignity israel bombing gaza is like shooting fish in a bucket and the citizens of gaza are open air targets but literally no place where they can evacuate to the current administration won't stand up for this injustice it's up to us to do it so it's great to set. the world you are seeing anything like. as the internet remains one of the last bastions of democracy we have the government is trying to find even more pretexts to govern it the way they do it well the same way they're able to pass every other laws.